Job 4

DOUAI-RHEIMS	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Then Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:	1 Then spoke Eliphaz the Temanite, who said:
2 If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill, but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?	2 If someone attempts a word with you, will you mind? For how can anyone refrain from speaking?
3 Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:	3 Behold, you have instructed many, and have made firm their feeble hands.
4 Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:	4 Your words have upheld the stumbler; you have strengthened his faltering knees.
5 But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.	5 But now that it comes to you, you are impatient; when it touches yourself, you are dismayed.
6 Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?	6 Is not your piety a source of confidence, and your integrity of life your hope?
7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?	7 Reflect now, what innocent person perishes? Since when are the upright destroyed?
8 On the contrary I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,	8 As I see it, those who plow for mischief and sow trouble, reap the same.
9 Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.	9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his wrath they are consumed.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken:	10 Though the lion roars, though the king of beasts cries out, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken;
11 The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.	11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth as it were received the veins of its whisper.	12 For a word was stealthily brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it.
13 In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,	13 In my thoughts during visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:	14 Fear came upon me, and shuddering, that terrified me to the bones.
15 And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.	15 Then a spirit passed before me, and the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a gentle wind:	16 It paused, but its likeness I could not discern; a figure was before my eyes, and I heard a still voice:
17 Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?	17 "Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against his Maker?
18 Behold they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:	18 Lo, he puts no trust in his servants, and with his angels he can find fault.
19 How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?	19 How much more with those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed more easily than the moth!
20 From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.	20 Morning or evening they may be shattered; with no heed paid to it, they perish forever.
21 And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.	21 The pegs of their tent are plucked up; they die without knowing wisdom."